Case Studies

MENORCA

One of our more interesting contracts was to transport a classic Aston Martin DB5 to Menorca.  It was collected from a UK dealer and road transported on a covered trailer through France to Barcelona where we caught the freight ferry to Mahon, the capital of Menorca, which should take 24 hrs.

We woke in the morning to find the boat pitching and rolling, and found out from the crew that the port of Mahon had been closed due to bad weather, and the ferry was being diverted to Palma in Majorca.  After spending a day in Palma we were told that we were returning to Barcelona.  The way back to Barcelona was more like travelling around Cape Horn!  Apparently it was the worst storm in the Mediterranean for over 15 years.

A further day was spent at Barcelona and then the journey continued to Mahon.  24 hours later we arrived, completed the delivery of the Aston Martin to an owner who was delighted that his car had arrived.

The return journey was uneventful - which was a real pleasure.

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ALMERIA/JAVEA/VALENCIA

A job that was more about mileage and logistics was when we left London with a 4x4 on the back.  We had 3 caravans to return to the UK, 2 on the truck and 1 on the hook of the 4x4.  Our first stop was Portsmouth to catch the P&O ferry, the Pride of Bilbao, this take 2 nights and 1 day to reach the northern Spanish port of Bilbao.

Having left the ship, we began the trip through the Basque mountainous region of Spain, en route to the southern region of Almeria, which is a long drive, even with 2 drivers and plenty of coffee, and took over 13 hours.

Our second pick up was in Javea, near Benidorm, which led onto our last collection in Valencia, which turned out to be a tight squeeze for the truck.  We decided to move the caravans as the Valencia caravan was older than the rest and would be better placed on the back of the truck rather than the hitch of the 4x4.

It took a couple of hours to secure things properly and then it was time to drive back from Valencia to Bilbao.  After a good feed and some rest, it was time to hit the mountains and hills from Valencia.  The scenery was great but not in the middle of the night!  All I know is it felt like going uphill for 8 hours.  After a coffee and fuel stop just north of Madrid, the last push to Bilbao was completed in plenty of time for the ferry, had a great steak dinner and a good night's sleep.